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Planning to contribute to a charity before the end of the year? Be sure to give wisely

If you’ve given to the same charity for years and are familiar with its record, you’re in good shape for your end-of-year giving.

However, if you’re planning to give to an organization you’re not familiar with, it’s best to check out the charity so you can avoid greedy fundraising groups.

Seniors 65 and older – a group that makes up about 13 percent of Washington’s population – are targeted by solicitors, and therefore should be careful and research where their donations are going.

Commercial fundraisers use many methods to solicit funds from the public, including the telephone and mailers. They’re paid, taking a cut of the donations before sending money to the charity or charging a fee for their services.

There are 10,041 charities registered in Washington state. Of those, 712 report using commercial fundraising services. The causes vary widely and include police, firefighter, and veteran organizations; medical research; animals; civil liberties; the environment; and many more.

The report is compiled by the Office of Secretary of State’s Charities Program.

This year, charities that used commercial fundraisers received an average of 46 percent of contributions, a drop from the 56 percent mark in the 2011 report and much lower than the 77 percent reported in 2010, Reed said.

The percentage that individual fundraisers retained was wide-ranging: Some fundraisers kept less than 10 percent and sent the remaining funds to charity, while other fundraisers’ fees and expenses were more than the amount raised.

Some highlights of the report:

A total of $519 million in contributions was raised in Washington and elsewhere by the 114 commercial fundraisers included in the report. This amount is about one-third less than the $773 million collected in 2011.

The average percentage of contributions returned to charity clients was 46 percent overall or $238 million. That’s slightly lower than the average annual historic rates of return over the last decade.

About 20 percent or 23 of the commercial fundraisers returned less than 20 percent to charity.

Only eight of the commercial fundraisers, 7 percent, returned more than 80 percent to charity.

The fundraiser with the highest percentage rate returned 99 percent to charity.

The fundraiser with the lowest percentage rate was at minus 603 percent, meaning the charity lost money on the partnership.

Consumers who think they’ve been victims of charity fraud should contact the Washington State Attorney General’s Consumer Resource Center between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. weekdays at 800-551-4636 or file a complaint online at www.atg.wa.gov.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.